The CuisiNerd

This is one of my favorite Thai summer dishes. It’s refreshing, filling, and delicious.

Take thinly sliced strips of beef and marinate in sea salt and lime juice for about an hour. Saute until cooked medium (this won’t take more than a minute or two), and then marinate in the fridge in the following dressing until chilled

Equal parts (roughly 1 tablespoon per serving) of:

• Lime juice
• Palm Sugar (I shred mine from a cake with a cheese grater)
• Nam Pla (fish sauce)
• Soy Sauce

Shake well and add:

• crushed garlic (about 1 clove per 2 servings)
• a chopped green onion
• a few sprigs of mint, chopped
• a few sprigs of cilantro, chopped

Shake again and marinate the meat.

Serve (with dressing) over top of your favorite salad ingredients, with crumbled feta and drizzled with some sweet chili sauce.

It’s springtime, so it’s time for fingerling potatoes and green onions, both of which make for a tasty and healthy potato salad!

Boil up 2 lbs fingerling potatoes (cut into bite-sized chunks) for about 10 minutes, drain, and soak in cool water.

Chop up:

• 4 green onions
• 2 cloves garlic
• a few sprigs of fresh parsley

Add 1/3 cup cider or wine vinegar and 1/3 cup olive oil and toss with the chopped stuff. Salt and pepper to taste (this will take more salt than you think it will)

You can eat this immediately, or let it sit in the fridge for about a day to allow the flavors to blend nicely.

It’s after Easter, so the fridge is probably full of leftovers. For lunch today, I made myself a lovely salad of things that are mostly in season:

• Handful of spinach (fresh from the Farmers’ Market)
• 1 Easter egg, sliced
• 2 strawberries, sliced
• some boiled beets (left over from making pink Easter eggs, but you can use canned/pickled beets here)
• feta cheese crumbles
• chopped Canadian bacon (this would be a good use for leftover Easter Ham)

I also forgot to put in some green onions (also fresh from the Farmers’ Market) and some mushrooms.

For a dressing, I continued my quest to emulate the spinach salad dressing from Jack Stack BBQ in Kansas City. I got pretty close this time:

• 1 Tbsp white vinegar
• 2 Tbsp simple syrup
• pinch ground celery seed
• pinch of salt

So many “recipes” call for a can or two of mushroom soup. Here’s how to make a big batch to freeze so that you’re not a slave to the can opener. It tastes loads better, too.

Makes about 20 cups (equivalent to about a dozen cans of soup).

• 2 pounds mushrooms, chopped
• 1 bundle green onions, chopped
• 1 stick (1/4 lb) butter

Saute the mushrooms and green onions together in as big a frying pan as you can find.

Meanwhile, in a large stock pot, make a cream base by melting the butter, frying the flour (a roux), and adding the liquid.

• 2 sticks butter
• 1 cup flour
• 1 quart chicken or vegetable stock
• 1 pint heavy cream (or half and half)
• 2 quarts milk (whole or skim or anywhere in between, up to you!)

as the cream base is coming to a boil and thickening, add the mushrooms and onions, and season to taste with whatever combination of salt, garlic, or pepper that suits your fancy.

As the mixture comes to a boil, it will start thickening. If you’re just looking for soup, you can stop here. If you’re looking for a creamy sauce to use in other recipes, thicken it a little more with some cornstarch:

• 1 tablespoon corn starch
• 1/4 cup of water

Mix the two until they for a light slurry and then mix into the soup and let boil for a few more minutes.

From here, you can freeze or use it. 1.5 and 3-cup portions work well for recipes, roughly analogous to 1 or 2 cans of the stuff with the red label.

no, this isn’t a birdseed bread – the recipe is simple enough to be tweeted. It’s very versatile and can be used as pizza dough, pita, rolls, sandwich bread, you name it.

This bread is brought to you by the number 3.

3 Cups liquid (some combination of water and milk, lukewarm, under 105°F)

3 Tablespoons sugar (or other sweetener such as honey, maple syrup, or molasses. Don’t use zero-calorie sweeteners here, this is to feed the yeasties, not to sweeten the bread – that’s what jam is for)

3 teaspoons yeast (1 Tablespoon – if using packets, 1 packet is just under a tablespoon and will do fine)

Stir together in a mixing bowl and let sit for a few minutes for the yeast to activate.

Add:

3 teaspoons salt (1 Tablespoon)

3 Tablespoons oil (canola, olive, or butter, any one will do – use less if you want a crispier crust)

3 Cups bread flour or other high-gluten flour

3 Cups whole wheat flour (or other grains in any combination you desire. half WW/half rye works well too. You can also use 3 more cups of bread flour for plain ol’ white bread)

If using a stand mixer, combine together with a dough hook and knead on low speed for 15 minutes (3 times 5!)

If doing this by hand, stir the ingredients together and knead for about 10 minutes until the dough is nice and stretchy.

Shape into two (not 3!) loaves (or lots of rolls!) and put in loaf pan

Cover with a towel and rise in a warm spot for an hour (3 times 20!) – you can turn your oven on low (usually 170°F) until heated, then turn the oven off and put the loaves in there to rise.

Bake at 350°F for half an hour (3 times 10!). If rising in the oven, you can just leave them there and turn it on. Start the timer when you turn the oven on)

Variations:

Pita: Divide the dough into 16 pieces and shape into balls, and let rise . Roll them out and bake them on a stone for a few minutes on each side.

Pizza Crust: Just like pita, only with different sized dough balls. Add sauce and toppings and bake at 500°F.

Rolls: Like pita, but skip the part where you make them flat.

Image Credit: Cheesecake For Breakfast

This recipe comes from Carol at work.

It has been my experience that these cookies will cure an addiction to Girl Scout Thin Mints. Unfortunately, that’s akin to kicking a

coffee habit by switching to speed. But at least the ingredients in here are a little less esoteric than the Thin Mints. So here goes…

Preheat oven to 350F

Melt together (either using a double boiler or a microwave):

• 12 ounces of chocolate
• 2 ounces of unsalted butter.

The chocolate is the key ingredient here, so this is highly subjective to personal tastes. A 50/50 mix of bittersweet and semi-sweet chocolate chips works well, or you can throw an ounce of mint chocolate chips into the mix and adjust other quantities accordingly.

While the chocolate is cooling, put a whisk attachment on your mixer and beat:

• 3 large eggs
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar

until you get a ribbon consistency, which should be about 3-4 minutes. Take the bowl off the mixer and stir in:

• Chocolate mixture from above
• 2 tsp Vanilla (and please, use the good stuff)

Sift together:

• 1.5 ounces (1/3 cup) of all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Stir the flour mixture into the batter and let it rest for 5 minutes.

Spoon cookies of about 1 tablespoon of batter onto a cookie sheet that’s been rendered non-stick by the application of  butter/flour,  parchment paper, or teflon.

Bake cookies for 8-10 minutes, until they are puffy and cracked, and let cool on a rack.

The cookies can now be eaten as is, or if you want an extra hit of yummy, coat them with:

• 1/4 cup mint chocolate chips
• 1/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1/4 cup white chocolate chips

(but be sure to melt them all together first)

This will be a hit at office parties or any cookie-friendly gathering (and if it’s not cookie-friendly, why are you going?)

Another interesting variation on this would be to put a little bit of espresso in, instead of mint.

This is a big hit with the kids. High in protein, very filling.

Place the following in a shallow baking pan:

• 2 cups lentils (12 oz, but you can use a full pound if you buy lentils in 1-lb bags, just add another 1/2 cup of water)
• 2 cups water
• 2 bay leaves (or more if you like)
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon marjoram
• 1/4 teaspoon sage
• 1/4 teaspoon thyme
• 2 large onions
• 2 cloves minced or crushed garlic
• 1 can diced tomatoes, with liquid

Cover in foil and bake all this at 375F for half an hour.

Stir in:

• 2 large carrots, sliced
• 3-4 stalks celery, sliced

Re-cover and bake for another 40 minutes until veggies are tender.

Stir in:

• 1 green pepper, chopped
• 2 Tablespoons chopped parsley

Sprinkle 1.5 cups shredded cheese over top and bake uncovered for 5 more minutes.

Beat the Egg Mix together:

• 4 eggs
• 1 can (13 oz) evaporated milk
• 3/4 teaspoon sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• dash of paprika or cayenne pepper

Filling:

This is where you get creative, but the base is:

• 1/4 c chopped onion
• 1 cup shredded cheese

For a Quiche Lorraine, use swiss cheese and add 10 strips of cooked and crumbled bacon (or more if you like bacon)

You can also use broccoli, ham, sausage, peppers, you name it. It’s a quiche.

Put the filling in the bottom of the pie plate, starting with the onions and ending with the cheese and pour the egg mixture on top.

Cook in the microwave as follows:

• 3 minutes
• Stir with a fork
• 3 minutes
• Stir
• 6 minutes
• rest for 10-12 minutes

Another recipe for dinner rolls, this time more bread-style than brioche.

Dry:

• 2 lbs flour (this can be a mix of bread and whole wheat flours. Recommend not going more than 50% WWF)
• 2 tsp salt

Wet:

• 1 Cup warm water
• 1 Cup warm milk
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 4 teaspoons yeast
• 1/2 stick melted butter (add after the yeast has activated)

combine wet ingredients and let yeast activate for about 10 minutes. Add to dry ingredients in stand mixer and knead with dough hook for about 20 minutes.

Allow to rise until doubled in size (about 90 minutes) and divide into rolls. Place close together on a cookie sheet and let rise for another 20-30 minutes. Heat oven to 425F (Gas 7 for those in Europe) and bake for about 20 minutes.

Easy recipe for dinner rolls. Makes a good base for a cinnamon raisin bread too. This is essentially a brioche dough. The recipe has been sized for a KitchenAid 5.5-quart stand mixer and makes about two dozen dinner-sized rolls. You can also use this for hamburger buns if you make them larger and flatter.

Stir the following ingredients together and let sit for about 10 minutes:

• 3/4 cup milk or buttermilk (warmed to about 40C/100F)
• 3/4 cup water (also warmed)
• 2 tablespoons active dry yeast (or 2 packets if not using bulk yeast)

While the yeast is activating, combine the following into the stand mixer bowl:

• 30 oz flour (about 5 1/2 cups)
• 1/2 cup sugar (1 cup if making cinnamon raisin bread)
• 1/2 Tbsp salt

Mix briefly and then add:

• 3/4 cup softened butter (1 1/2 sticks)
• 2 eggs
• yeast mixture

Combine with the dough hook on low speed until well mixed. Turn up the speed a notch and let it knead for about 10-15 minutes.

After kneading, let the dough rise until double in size (about 45 minutes). Shape the dough into rolls, put on the baking pan and let rise for another 30 minutes. Bake the rolls at 400F for about 10-15 minutes until golden.

To make this into a cinnamon bread, add an extra 1/2 cup of sugar as noted above. After the kneading is done, add a bunch of raisins (a cup or so should do it unless you REALLY like raisins) and 2 tablespoons of cinnamon. Shape into loaves and bake at 350F.